Christ came to earth and showed great wisdom and
power. His teachings were revolutionary; His miracles left thousands
dumbfounded. He healed the blind, the deaf the dumb, the paralyzed and
others who suffered great afflictions. He fed miraculously thousands of
hungry people. The most dramatic miracle of all was the fact that He made
the dead come back to life.

Everything pointed
to one undeniable truth: Christ was the greatest of all the messengers
that God had ever sent to Israel, and not one of them could compare in
power and wisdom.

But there was
more. Jesus was not just a great messenger from God, He was declared God’s
Son by a voice from Heaven, and He boldly asserted that He was the
expected Messiah. This was a very big package to accept on the part of
both the disciples and the Jews.

After three-and-one –half
years of preaching and of doing great miracles came the shocking taking of
Jesus by the Roman soldiers and the Jews. Unexpectedly, He did not fight
back as a conquering “Messiah” should have. He was also taken to be
scourged and to be finally crucified. To the amazement of Christ’s
disciples, the “Messiah” did not resist. Ultimately, He died a most
gruesome death and was entombed like any other human. Who was Jesus
Christ, really, given this shocking turn of events?

As promised, the
resurrection did take place three days and three nights later, and
hundreds witnessed Christ’s return to life. There was no doubt that He had
been resurrected as He had promised. The greatest wonder of all had taken
place, and all now knew that Christ was much more than just a prophet; He
was the Son of God.

But what if the
three days and three nights had passed and God would not have resurrected
Christ?

If Christ had not
come back to life, His promise that He would have risen the third day
would have been rendered nil and void. Also, everything surrounding Christ
would have been subject to question. Christ’s teachings would have held no
value, as they would have been simply seen as the words of a deceiver. His
great deeds would have been attributed to demonic powers working through
Him. His promises to the disciples about their glorious future would have
been nothing but rubbish. His prophecies regarding His return to rule the
earth would have been valueless. Lastly, His promise that He would have
shed his blood for the sins of the world would have been insignificant.

When God
resurrected Christ, He gave humanity the critical and undeniable proof
that Christ was the promised Savior, and that Jesus was, indeed,
totally trustworthy and reliable. The resurrection also validated the
worth of Christ’s teachings and of all His promises. Most of all, it
validated the powerful meaning of His sacrifice for all of humanity and
His role in the future establishment of the Kingdom of God.

After the
resurrection, the disciples no longer doubted that Christ was the Son of
God. Even doubting Thomas received sufficient evidence from Christ that He
had come back from the dead, and that led him to finally exult, “My Lord
and my God” ((John 20:28). After agonizing days of mourning and
disappointment, the disciples were overwhelmed with feelings of joy. The
Lord was back, and everything surrounding Him was totally true.

Thus, the resurrection was the pivotal sign from God that validate
Christ’s identity, His teachings and His promises. The undeniable sign was
given, and it was witnessed by hundreds (I Corinthians 155:6), who gladly
went on to share the good news that Christ had died for all sinners, was
resurrected, had risen to the right hand of God, was offering salvation to
all who believed and had a great eternal reward in store for them who
endured to the end.